Petition Smetition

There's a petition making the rounds on the social networks that asks the Republicans to stop sabotaging the economy. It's a noble cause, but there's little point to signing it.

Why? Because Republicans don't believe they are sabotaging the economy. They are successfully shaping the economy they want. This is the economy they've openly legislated for and campaigned on for decades. They haven't hidden this agenda, it's been their party line for as long as I can remember. That so much of the wealth of the working class has been redistributed to and then hoarded by the ultra wealthy is a huge success for them. That profits of major corporations have gone up while wages and standard of liviing have gone down for the overwhelming majority of Americans is a huge success for them. Our 99 problems are their goals. It's what makes them Republicans.

That's why this petition and others like it won't work. Boiled down to its salt, the petition is asking Republicans not to be Republicans. And that's not going to happen.

Are we stuck, then? Are we doomed to live in their modern "libertarian" version of a feudalist society, eeking out survival as serfs to our corporate lords and masters? Is there nothing that will work?

There is one and only one thing that will work -- vote them out. Vote them out at every level from the Federal to State to County/Parrish to Township to City/Village. And never vote them back in, whatever name they might campaign under. But we have to act fast - while we still have the right to vote and the vote of a poor man is equal to the vote of a rich man.

Economic Call To Action....

MUCH cheaper than $700B, actually addresses the specific issues that brought the situtation to seemingly sudden critical mass and might actually work... complete with talking points to use when you contact your Senators and Congressman in D.C.

Dave Ramsey - Economic Cleanup

Get to it America, it's still our country and that $700B is OUR money they're playing with!

I've Got Your Bailout, Right Here, Buddy!

They lobbied for an unregulated free market and they got it. Now that their market has spoken and they don't like what it has to say, they want to saddle us and countless generations of our proginy with the bill for their failure. We paid for their success, I'll be god damned if we should have to pay for their failures, too!

Let the bitches fail... at least for a little while.

Let Americans see the results of the rampant, unregulated conglomerism so many were conned into believing was best for us, so it's at least a few decades until we're so easily conned into believing anything but runny, diseased shit will ever trickle down from the wealthy to those of us who break our backs everyday making them wealthy.

Don't hide it. It needs to be seen.

95 Democrats and 133 Republicans were on OUR side, today... even if Congressional Minority Leader Boehner called the motives of some of those Republicans into question, by suggesting they were merely having a hissy fit over something Speaker Pelosi said.

Find out where YOUR Congressman stood on sticking you and your children and grandchildren with the bailout bill, today --

Congressional Roll Call - Bailout Bill

It may or may not be a partisan battle on the hill, but out here in the grass, it's a class war and the numbers are on our side.

Stimulating Whose Economy?

First, my appologies for taking so long to find time to blog on this. Like most Americans, I'm working around the clock. In my case, most of the work I'm doing is currently not compensated with a paycheck. I'm working, for free, as a member of the DeWitt County Development Council to help turn our local economy around and I'm busting my ascii almost around the clock, building a business to help improve not only the household economies of those of us working to build this beast, but to take the bite out of the bottom lines of businesses in an entire, huge, domestic industry... so that the savings will be passed along to every American who's struggling to make ends meet and maybe achieve a little of the American dream in the process. That said...

By now, you've no doubt seen the press on the bipartisan emergency stimulus package. Neither party is particularly thrilled with it, but boy are they quick to dangle that dazzling rebate in our faces.

What a shiny thing it is, too -- a $700 to $1200 (or higher) lump sum rebate payment. It sounds pretty darned good when you're deciding between fuel for the vehicle that gets you to the job that feeds your family or fuel for the bellies of the family you work so hard to provide for.

But, will it do what they say it will? Will we go spend it on beads and baubles at the big box discount store, thus stimulating the American economy by creating a demand for beads and baubles that will, in turn, create jobs in the beads and baubles industries?

You and I know the answer to that question is a huge, resounding "No." But, then, it's a little hard for us to lose touch with economic reality when we're the ones out here trying to survive it.

If they were in our shoes, they'd realize that we've been struggling to make ends meet for so long that $700 - $1200 isn't nearly enough to catch most of us up. Most of us will probably spend that money on necessities and catching up on bills.

But, even if we did all go out, en masse, to spend our little rebate windfalls on beads and baubles -- it wouldn't stimulate OUR economy, because we don't manufacture beads or baubles or much of anything else, here, anymore.

We have the economic equivalent of a gaping belly wound -- a band-aid isn't going to do anything to improve or even stabilize our condition. We need a real emergency cure, an enduring one, that stops the bleeding and keeps our money, here... or we're going to bleed to death.

That's the simple truth of it.

Ethical Economics...

First, let me wish each of you a Happy Festivus, Belated Joyous Yule (Ves Heil!) and Belated Happy Solstice (the light is waxing!) to each of you.

As many of you are blissfully unaware, I have some uniquely ethical business philosophies I'm very proud to say that my friend and business partner in USBuyBid shares. I don't meet many entrepreneurs who share my mindset -- so far, outside of my own bloodline, I've met a grand total of one... the aforementioned friend and biz partner, Samuel.

Aside from working almost round the clock on developing USBuyBid with Samuel, I also have my own little semi-backburnered project, designing for products such as t-shirts, greeting cards, bumper stickers, etc. which I sell through shops on various Print on Demand fullfillment services.

I have at least one design available, in at least one shop, on each of 7 such services -- CafePress (my primary shop,) Printfection (my secondary shop and Evil shop) Zazzle (ties & keychains,) ArtsNow (supplemental shop for TONS of products per design,) E-shirt (just a handful of test designs,) Greeting Card Universe (just a couple of test designs) and Skreened (the inspiration for this post.)

As I went about the traditional preparations for my annual December gift-giving Holiday - sorting the gift bags and boxes I re-use, each year, by whose tag is on them -- a win-win-win tradition that saves trees, money AND landfill space -- my mind wandered to what I'd most like to have in a POD fulfillment service.

My wish list was as follows:

Tie-dye base apparel
Magnetic Bumper Stickers
More "Made in America" products
Sweat-free apparel
Hemp products
"made from recycled..." products
More "Organic" cotton apparel


Not expecting to find any of them, I went searching for the first two things I listed -- magnetic bumper stickers and Tie-dye base apparel. I did't find them, of course. But, I found a number of POD services I was previously unaware existed, including one, Skreened.com, which I was most surprised and thrilled to find because they're an American owned, American operated business, located in Ohio, that offers two of the things on my list, exclusively: a small assortment of sweat-free shirts all made in the USA, in a variety of colors.

I had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming! I wasn't -- they're real and some more digging turned up their blog, which includes some indications that they share some of my own business philosophies. I couldn't sign up fast enough! This is a service I can feel REALLY good about each and every thing I sell through them... or buy through them.

It's a little late in the Fred (sometimes referred to as "Christmas") Shopping season to suggest that you check them out for December Holiday gifts you can feel particularly good about giving, but there are lots of good designs to choose from and I highly recommend checking them out and bookmarking them for the next time you're shopping for yourself or a loved one -- help keep American workers employed and earning a living wage, by buying sweat-free American made:

www.skreened.com
or, if you just want to check in on my slow progress in building a presence there, Click Here

(Those who are interested can find most of my other shops by punching "Melhi" and the name of the service into a search engine.)

Oh and it's a couple of days early, but... Merry Christmas.